Project description
Fungal nutrient uptake in temperate forests
Soils store the largest reservoir of organic carbon on Earth, playing a vital role in regulating climate change. While mycorrhizal fungi (both arbuscular (AM) and ectomycorrhizal (ECM)) influence this storage, the exact causal links remain a mystery. The ERC-funded MYCO-SoilC project aims to explore how these fungal networks contribute carbon to temperate forest soils and affect their long-term turnover. It will develop cutting-edge technologies, and use carbon-11 (11C) for real-time visualisations of carbon movement and a mobile greenhouse to label entire mini-forests with 13CO2. The team also uses quantum dot nanotechnology to track how fungi take up nutrients. By combining isotope analysis with biomarker techniques, the project measures how fungal necromass, the remains of dead fungi, builds up soil carbon. The project’s ultimate goal is to pave the way for new tools to manage forests as powerful carbon sinks.
Objective
The world's soils are the largest terrestrial reservoir of organic carbon (C). Feedbacks between soil organic C and atmospheric CO2 will determine the future trajectory of climate change. However, predictions are largely uncertain because we still lack fundamental knowledge of the complex interplay between plants and microorganisms and its influence on C turnover.
Most terrestrial plants live in symbiosis with mycorrhizal fungi. Previous work suggests that on a global scale soil C stocks are linked to the distribution of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) or ectomycorrhizal (ECM) plants. To date, it is not clear whether there is a causal relationship between mycorrhizal type and soil C storage. Answering this key question requires novel concepts that consider the mechanistic link between short-term C fluxes from plants to mycorrhizal fungi and C storage as an emerging ecosystem property.
MYCO-SoilC will yield a comparative, systematic understanding of the dynamics of C input by mycorrhizal fungi to soil, their effects on C turnover and their implications for C storage in temperate forests dominated by AM or ECM trees. Achieving this ambitious goal, which involves a multitude of processes on different spatio-temporal scales, requires the development of ground-breaking technological innovations. Key innovations of MYCO-SoilC are 1) real-time visualization of 11C allocation in plant-soil systems, 2) construction of the first moving greenhouse for 13CO2-labeling of mini-forests, 3) coupling of quantum dot nanotechnology with isotope labeling to visualize organic nutrient uptake by fungi, and 4) combining isotope analysis with biomarker approaches to quantify the fungal necromass contribution to soil C. The MYCO-SoilC approach bears significant conceptual and technical risks which are mitigated by a response plan with alternative routes. MYCO-SoilC will create substantial knowledge on mycorrhizal mediated C turnover and facilitate predictions of soil-climate feedbacks.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
This project's classification has been human-validated.
Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2021-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
95447 Bayreuth
Germany
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